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C. LAMB.

Hand Stamp. No. 230,879. Patented Aug. 10, 1880.

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O LAMB. Hand Stamp. No. 230,879. Patented Aug. 10,1880.

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PETERS, PHOTG-L\THOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, I: (1y

U ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES LAMB, OF BINGHAMTON, NEYV YORK, ASSIGNOR OF THREE- FOUBTHS OFHIS RIGHT TO RODNEY A. FORD, WILLIAM L. MIIDGE, AND HARPER DUSENBUEY,ONE-FOURTH TO EACH.

HAND-STAMP.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 230,879, dated August10, 1880.

Application filed May 24, 1880. (Model) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES LAMB, a citizen of the United States,residing at Binghamton, in the county of Broome and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Canceling andRecording Stamps; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters orfigures of reference marked thereon, and which form a part of thisspecification, in which- Figure l is a front elevation of theletterstamp canceler and recorder; Fig. 2, a similar elevation with thedial-plate removed; Fig. 3, a bottom view; Fig. 4, a front elevation,partly in section, with dial-plate and interior operating wheels ordisks removed; Fig. 5, a vertical cross-section through the center ofFig. 1; Fig. 6, detached end views of operating-wheels; Figs. 7, 8, and9, side views thereof Fig. 10, an end view thereof and a section of therear plate of the inclosing-case, the parts being arranged as when readyfor operation, and the engaging-pins being clearly illustrated; and Fig.11, a perspective of a section of the inclosing-case, the arc-platewhich carries a pawl, and the post that moves the arcplate.

My invention relates to canceling and recording stamps, and has for itsobject the production of a device adapted to cancel stamps on mailableletters, and at the same time to make a record of every letter the stampon which is canceled, so that at any period of the day the device willindicate the number of letters marked by it.

The invention consists in the construction and arrangement of partsconsisting of wheels, pawls, levers, dial-plate, and index-hands, andalso an alarm to indicate the movement of the index-hand, a full andexplicit description of all of which I will now proceed to give.

In the accompanying drawings, the letterA indicates the casing of thedevice, usually cast or otherwise made of metal, and with a hole, a, inits back plate, and which generally has a flange, B, around it, a slot0, in its periphery, at or near its top, and two vertical ways, D, oneat each side, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and at.

The casing is generally circular in form, except at the bottom, where itis flat. At the top of the casing, between its handle E and the casing,and preferably around the shank of the handle, as shown in Fig. 5, thereis placed a gong-bell, F, and to the back plate of the casing, on theinside thereof, there is pivoted or fulcrumed a lever, G, in such amanner that when struck on the lower end, by means hereinafterdescribed, that end will be thrown out toward the periphery of theeasing and the other end drawn in therefrom, and when the force isreleased the movement will be the reverse, causing the fingerc of thelever to protrude through slot 0 and strike gong F, thereby sounding analarm; The recoil of the lever to strike the alarm is caused by aspring, H, coiled around the sleeve of the lever which fits over thefulcrum-pin, and one end of which is made to bear against the casing, asshown in Fig. 4:. A pin, I, projecting inwardly from the periphery ofthe easin g, constitutes a check for the lever which strikes against it.It may, however,be omitted. Ascrew-pin,J is passed through the backplate of the casing at a point below the opening a, as illustrated, andits end is beveled and projects into the interior of the casing.

To the bottom of the casing, inside the same, there are bolted threesprings, K, side by side, each of which is preferably formed with afingered end, as shown, and they are designed to act as pawls, allowingthe wheels, hereinafter described,'to be turned in one direction, butnot in the other.

A shaft, L, formed with a collar, (7, extends through casing A fromfront to rear, and has its bearing at one end in the hole a in the backplate of the casing, and that end is shouldered, so that a key may beapplied thereto for the purpose of turning the same. The forward end ofthis shaft projects through a dial-plate, M, and has an index-hand, N,attached thereto. This shaft supports within the casing A three or moreperipherally-toothed wheels, 1, 2, and 3, two of which numbers, 1 and 2,are also ratchet-faced. It also supports an arc-plate, O. 'The arc-plateis journaled on the collar d of the shaft and fits next to the back ofthe casing. The wheel N o. 3 is rigidly secured to the shaft next to thewheel No. 2. No.2 is provided with a sleeve,l?, which encircles theshaft L to a point outside of the dial-plate M, and to its outer end isattached the index-hand N while wheel No. l is journaled on the sleeveof wheel No. 2, and is provided with a sleeve, Q, which encircles sleeveP, and extends outside of the dial-plate M, but not so far as sleeve 1?,and it, too, has an index-hand, N attached to its end. The sleeve Q,inside of the casing, in the rear of the dial-plate, is formed with acollar, 0, and a shoulder, f, on which collar and against which shoulderfits the tripod R, the ends of which rest on the seats S b S, formed inthe casin g therefor. This tripod holds the three wheels in place, andagainst the toothed periphery of each wheel bears the finger of one ofthe springs K, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

The wheels 2 and 3 have both a spring, T, pinned to their faces, and atthe end of the spring is a pin, U, which extends through a slot made inthe wheels, and preferably both ends of the pin are beveled, as shown.These pins are designed, when brought into contact with each other, orone with the pin J, to be thereby pushed outward into contact with theratchet-face of the adjoining wheel, so that by such means the adjoiningwheel can be turned. These pins are arranged with reference to oneanother so that for one complete revolution of wheel No. 3 wheel No. 2will be turned one notch or point, and indicate the same by theindex-hand and dial-plate and for each complete revolution of wheel No.2, wheel No. 1 will turn one notch or point and indicate the same byindex-hand N and dial-plate.

To the face of the arc-plate 0 there is pivoted or hinged a pawl, V,that engages with the teeth of Wheel No. 3, and is held in contacttherewith by means of a spring, g.

In the arc-plate 0, below the rear end of pawl V, there is made a slotor hole, into which enters one end of a pin, h, which passestransversely through post NV, and by which means the arc-plate is raisedand lowered, and pawl V is made to disengage with one tooth and engagewith another, so that when the arcplate is drawn down the wheel No. 3 iscaused to turn one notch or point.

The posts \V move up and down in the ways D, and are kept from fallingtherethrough by the pins h, passed transversely through the same neartheir upper ends, and which strike against the tops of ways D.

The lower ends of the posts connect with a transverse bar, X, to thelower face of which is attached the canceling-pad Y and the markingdevice Z, in which are secured, in any of the well-known ways, type forprinting the mailing-office and time of mailing and whatever else may bedesired.

Between the bar X and the bottom of the casing A there is placed acurved or equiva= lent spring, A, the function thereof being to separateor spring apart bar X and casin g A when they have been brought incontact or toward each other by the act of stamping and canceling.

The dial-plate M is provided with a scale for each one of the hands, thescale for the hand N recording fifty letters, that for hand N twentyfivehundred, and that for hand N one hundred and twenty-five thousand. Theindexhand N moves but one point to every fifty of hand N, and N movesone point to every fifty of hand N, or every twenty-five hundred of handN.

In operation the canceling-pad and marking device are inked from theinking-pad. The operator takes hold of the handle E and presses thedevice down on the letter to be canceled and marked. The casing A slidesdown the posts W, one of which forces up the arc-plate 0, thus causingthe pawl V to pass from one tooth of wheel No. 3 to the tooth next aboveit, and the other post strikes against the end of lever H, thus drawingthe fingered end thereof inwardly, and as soon as the pressure isreleased the spring A forces up casing A, which causes wheel No. 3,through the instrumentality of pawl V, to turn to the extent of onepoint or tooth, carrying with it the index-hand at the end of shaft L,and recording on the dial the canceling and marking of one letter. Atthe same time the other post is freed from contact with lever G, whenthe spring H throws the finger thereof out, causing it to strike thebell and sound the alarm, which indicates the movement of the hand torecord the cancellation. The operation thus continues until thespring-pin T U of wheel No. 3 is brought into contact with pin J. Thelatter being stationary and the spring-pin movable, when the spring-pinstrikes against the beveled end of pin J it is forced thereby throughits slot into contact with one of the face-teeth of wheel No. 2, so thatas the wheel No. 3 continues to be turned until it passes pin J, (whichis to the extent of one point,) it carries wheel No. 2 along with it,and as this is done only once in every full or complete revolution ofwheel N o. 3, wheel No. 2 is caused to register one point for everycomplete revolution of wheel No. 3, the same being indicated on thedial-plate by index-hand N. This continues until wheel No. 2 has made acomplete revolution, at which time it will be found that the spring T Uof wheel No.1 and that of wheel No. 2 will be immediately opposite eachother and the pin J, and as the pin in wheel No. 3 is pressed out bycontact with pin J it is pressed against the pin in wheel No. 2, andforces it out into contact with one of the teeth of wheel No. 1, so thatas wheel No. 3, which has just completed another complete revolution,(in this instance its fiftieth,) and wheel N o. 2 one completerevolution, (in this instance its first,) wheel No. l is moved onepoint, indieating on the dial-plate, by index-hand N the rigregistration of twenty-five hundred canceled letters, and so theoperation of cancellation and registration continues until no lettersremain to be canceled, or the capacity of the device to register isexhausted. The device illustrated is capable of registering one hundredand twenty-five thousand, and the teeth of the wheel are cut so as toregister up to that number, a detailed description thereof not beingdeemed necessary, as it is a matter of mere mechanical skill. Of coursethe device can be constructed to register a greater or less number thanone hundred and twenty-five thousand without departing from myinvention.

When it is desired to begin anew the registry a key is applied to theshoulder of shaft L and the index-hands turned back until all are againon the same line as at first.

In front of the dial and index hands is a glass face, B, for protectingthe hands.

Having described my invention, what I claim is-- 1. The combination of acasing, shaft L, tripod R, and two or more toothed ratchetfaced wheels,a movable pawl for actuating one of the wheels, means for operating thepawl, a spring-pin for connecting and disconnecting one wheel with theother, so that by means thereof the wheels may be turned in unison orone independent of the other, a dial- 3o plate, and index-hands,substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of casing A, arc-plate O, pawl V, post W, connectingwith plate 0, bar X, and a spring for separating casing A 3 5 and bar Xand operating post W, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of casing A, lever G, bell F, post W, bar X, and aspring for separating casing A and bar X and operating 0 post \V,substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of casing A, provided with lever G, springs K, pin J,and pawl V, wheels 1, 2, and 3, provided with the pins T Uandindex-hands, bar X, provided with posts 4 5 W, a canceling-pad andmarking-plate, spring A, and bell F, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHAS. LAMB.

Witnesses:

A. D. WALLS, W. L. MUDGE.

